Laver's Son Envisions Tennis Club's New Heyday

March 28, 2001|By LEON FOOKSMAN Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — Lavers International Tennis Resort, a 51-court and condominium complex built in the late 1970s, used to be a premier place for playing tennis. People came from all over the world to play on the courts, party in the clubhouse and vacation in the condominiums.

"It went seven days a week," said Geoff Moore, who used to play there and still plays in the area. "It was a wild scene."

Those festive times ended in the mid-1980s when the complex's primary owner, Ian Laver, died in a plane crash in Dallas and the community was sold off in chunks to several property owners as business dropped.

Now, three business partners want to see the former tennis resort off Lindell Boulevard restored to the luster of the old days. The resort's property has been broken into various endeavors, including the city's new 24-court Delray Swim and Tennis Club and the nine-court International Tennis Academy.

To get started, the partners, including Laver's son, Richard, 28, who survived the plane crash, leased a portion of the former resort's property off Egret Circle and built nine courts on it. Their plan is to open a tennis center that will feature a clubhouse, first-rate courts and international tournaments.

They envision going even further.

Someday, they hope to acquire or help manage the city's Swim and Tennis Club, as well as the neighboring courts run by the International Tennis Academy.

And they expect to return the Laver name to their project, not only because Ian Laver was the developer of the larger complex but also because his cremated remains were buried in an urn on part of the old resort -- what is now the city's Swim and Tennis Club.

Ian Laver was a cousin of tennis great and Hall of Famer Rod Laver.

"You need to put the prestige back into this whole facility," Richard Laver said.

The new company, called Lavers International Tennis Club Inc., recently completed its nine new courts, which it intends to open on May 5. Plans are to offer tennis memberships, camps and after-school programs.

Nandor Veres, a native Hungarian and former tennis pro who played all over Europe before forming the company, said the partners decided to compete with the Delray Swim and Tennis Club because the city wasn't willing to work with them when it bought its courts last year.

"We wanted to share this facility with them. Now I'm the competition. They forced it," Veres said.

Richard Laver joined the company because he said city officials weren't sensitive to his family when they decided to raze a decrepit clubhouse and didn't make attempts to remove his father's urn and preserve it. Laver and a friend ended up digging up the urn and holding onto it. Until that time, Richard Laver had been an international tennis instructor.

Brahm Dubin, manager of the Delray Beach Tennis Center on West Atlantic Avenue and the Swim and Tennis Club in the former Lavers resort, said he isn't worried that Veres' company will pose much of a competitive threat to the city's complex, which is just across Egret Circle.

"Competition is always healthy, and anything to promote tennis is exciting," Dubin said. "If you have more facilities in one area, they'll attract a lot of people. I'm not worried about anyone across the street from us."

Dubin said private tennis centers can't compete with city-run operations. He said membership for city residents at the city courts ranges between $250 and $400.

Veres said he wouldn't be trying to compete directly with Delray Beach, but he would offer the same membership rates.

"I want to turn this into an elite program," Veres said.

The city purchased the eight-acre, 24-court complex in August with the help of the Delray Racquet Club condominium association. The city paid $200,000 for the deal, and the association added $375,000. The city and the association share the ownership of the courts, but the city has access to all the courts.

The courts were purchased, officials said, to give members of the city's West Atlantic Avenue tennis complex additional courts.

The city's plan from the start was to operate the courts. The previous owner, International Tennis Resort, had gone bankrupt and was closed for months before the city purchased it.

Richard Laver and Veres said it could take up to 10 years to reunite the pieces of the former resort and turn it again into a world-class tennis venue.

Leon Fooksman can be reached at lfooksman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6647.